A New Threat
by Confident is my Middle Name
Summary: sorry bout the short chapters, they always look longer than they are when i upload them...
1. Chapter 1

Soft footfalls sounded through the corridor as Colonel John Sheppard steadily made his way towards the bleeping signature that Rodney had pointed them towards in the first place. Ronon followed close behind, he had an uneasiness about him that Sheppard mimicked. He'd done this sort of thing a hundred times, a thousand. Why did this one feel like the last? His throat felt like sandpaper as he swallowed.

"Ronon, do you feel..."

"Like i should run like hell in the opposite direction?" Ronon's voice was tight, Sheppard nodded, he broke out in a cold sweat and gripped his P90 until his hand ached. He hit the button on his radio.

"Sheppard, I'm kinda busy, do you know how hard it is to reprogram a wraith..."

"Rodney shut up!" It came out more vehemently than he had planned. Sheppard struggled to get himself under control.

"Teyla, you sensing anything wraith oriented, like mind control?" The pause was long.

"No John, why?" The sound of Ronon's gun going off startled Sheppard out of his next comment, he scanned quickly looking for targets. Sweat dripped off of Ronon like rain, his eyes darted furiously searching for his prey. A grimace was carved into his face and his eyes were wild like an animals.

"Ronon, what is it?" Ronon shook his head. Despite the fear, they continued onward till they reached a narrow hallway. They walked quickly to the end of the hallway turning to meet a large blueish metal door. Before Sheppard could say anything Ronon had blown the handle off and kicked the door open. The scene before them caused both of them to stop in their tracks and lower their weapons. Five wraith lay dead on the floor, the feeling of near mind numbing fear grew stronger as their eyes fell on the boy sitting cross legged surrounded by the corpses of wraith. He was small, frail looking even. His head was shaved and an open eye was tattooed on his forehead, his eyes were closed and his breathing seemed to be normal, his clothing was ragged but otherwise in clean condition. He opened his eyes slightly, almost not enough to see that he did so, as his eyes fell on Sheppard and Ronon they felt the dread weaken, he smiled slightly.

"Sheppard..." His voice was barely a whisper. He fell backward onto his back and seemed to return to sleep. But the pall of doom dropped with his consciousness. As did Sheppard and Ronon's guns, as they too hit the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of rhythmic beeping in time with multiple heartbeats was almost soothing to Teyla's nerves as she waited for Dr. Beckett to return with his diagnosis. McKay was nowhere to be seen, _probably getting something to eat_ thought Teyla with a small smile. Sheppard's eyes flew open and he looked around the very familiar medical wing of Atlantis. The din of busyness was a calming sound to Sheppard after all these times, it meant everyone was doing alright, at least in the greater Atlantis. His eye's caught Teyla's, she opened her mouth to speak. But Sheppard cut her off.

"How's the kid?" Teyla smiled down at him as he sat up, blood rushed to his head, his vision narrowed and he laid back down. Beckett rushed over quickly. He fiddled with his stethoscope as he looked over the machines hooked into Sheppard.

"He's alright laddie, besides he's sleeping. Vitals are ship shape, Ronon's fine too. Your the last to wake up." Sheppard rubbed the back of his head. _When did I_? Sheppard stood quickly, he ignored the dizziness and walked past a partition to see the tattooed boy laying on a bed.

"That kid knocked me out with some control thing." Teyla looked at him and Beckett scratched his beard. Ronon walked over with his hand on his forehead.

"Damn kid, hit us with somethin'." Sheppard pointed up at his large friend.

"See see." Rodney walked in with a half eaten apple in his hand, he looked around at his friends before looking at the boy.

"Huh, you think he meant to knock you out?" Teyla crossed her arms.

"What makes you think that he is responsible for it?" Rodney took a bite out of his apple and pointed to his laptop, it was set up near Sheppard's bed. He set the apple down and started to search through the computer, he opened a file.

"Ah. Here it is, I caught this particular burst of energy before they were knocked out." Sheppard studied the image of the energy spike along the 7th line. He squinted his eyes. Teyla watched his face carefully.

"John, what is it?" Rodney looked back at Sheppard.

"I've seen this somewhere before..." Rodney scoffed.

"_I've_ never seen this before, how could you?" Teyla continued to watch his face, Sheppard searched his memory banks, grasping at any old memories. He finally found the one he was looking for. It was a memory from college, one of the guys on the football team, the linebacker, had also been into computers, he had been running a simulation on something or other, it had been a pattern exactly like this. The name hit him.

_Daniel Barrows_.

"I know a guy who can tell us something about this." Rodney looked dumbfounded, Ronon finally started to pay attention to the conversation as he smelled adventure, he smiled slightly.

"When do we leave?" he asked.


End file.
